The "bends" refers to decompression sickness and is often associated with divers who surface from a dive too rapidly (e.g., because of an emergency like running out of oxygen) and where the pressure transition of moving from deep to shallow water can be so shocking that it cause gases to bubble out of one’s blood – very painful. Though I haven’t read up on the facts on how many people die from the bends, for one reason or another I often associate the experience as very traumatic experience with a high probability of casualty (which may not be true). In any case, I spent lunch the other day with a successful entrepreneur that I work with (who raised tens of millions of dollars from top VCs in two ventures), and we shared some stories about our own startup and big company experiences, other friends’ experiences, etc. The talk made me reflect upon how people can switch between entrepreneurial ventures and large corporations (both directions) and not get the equivalent of the "bends".
From my vantage point, there seems to be a high probability of people failing to make the transition.
Here are some example sickness conditions that one might find when switching from small company to large company:
- getting frustrated with (perceived) excessive processes
- failing to recognize sensitivities associated with chain of command or organizational structures
- having to hold specialist positions that may not see end-to-end workflow (such as beginning of customer prospecting through contract closing and delivery)
- moving from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond (and the associated reduced scope of control)
For this post, I’m going to ignore the positive aspects of switching between small and large company, and I’ll turn to some example sickness conditions that one might find when switching from large company to small company:
- having difficulty operating with no to little human resources (e.g., VPs in big companies where they had people working for them and not knowing what to do when they have to deliver on their own)
- wanting to expand the organization prematurely (e.g., building up large sales teams before product is even close to alpha)
- working with colleagues who may neither have the experience of working with large companies nor speak the same language
- getting accosted by management for failing to realize that a small company may have much smaller margins for error
For myself, I found that imagining how life was going to be on a day-to-day basis before I made the switch had helped quite a bit. For example, before I first left the management consulting field to work for an angel-funded startup, I told the CEO something to the effect that I was mentally prepared to scrub toilets and live life by eating only canned beans. I knew that in a transition from a well-paying management consulting job to a bootstrap – well things were going to feel financially different. On the other hand, when I returned back to becoming a management consultant in a large company, I knew that there would be more processes, organization, etc. to work with. Projecting how life would be back in a large company had helped me to make the transition.
What I suggest is an internal readiness testing of sorts.
To digress a bit, I have seen some folks apply interview testing (or sorts) to see whether a large company person would work out in an small company/entrepreneurial setting. The test might have been to have a candidate for a VP of Sales job develop a sales presentation (or revise the startup’s existing sales presentation) and present the deck to the startup management team and board itself.
If the transition can be accomplished successfully, great things can happen. Sometimes business connections and credibility from someone from the big company world can be leveraged quite nicely into a small venture. Soimetimes entrepreneurial attitudes and fresh blood can help with large companies that need a revival. These are just tips of the iceberg in terms of potential benefits.
But transitions can be rocky. The bends exist, and they need to be actively managed before, during, and after a transition. At least, methinks so.